Mayor Oh Se-hoon of Seoul met with Mayor Peter Tschentscher of Hamburg, Germany, and his delegation at the Seoul Metropolitan Government Office at 11 a.m. on March 23 to share Seoul's best policy practices and discuss future city exchanges and cooperation between Seoul and Hamburg.

In addition to Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher, a total of nine members of the delegation attended the meeting, including German Ambassador to Korea Georg Schmidt, State Minister of Schleswig-Holstein Sabine Sutterlin-Waack, and Hamburg Foreign Minister Liv Assmann.

“I am very grateful that Seoul's 'Climate Companion Card,' which is modeled after the Deutsche Bahn Card, a German commuter pass, has recently received a warm response from citizens,” Oh said, and promised the delegation, who toured the Transportation Information Center (TOPIS) prior to the meeting, that he would ”share anything necessary for Hamburg's upcoming construction of a state-of-the-art transportation information system.”

Referring to HafenCity, an innovative waterfront cultural complex that has been transformed into an innovative waterfront cultural city through the development of Hamburg's former port city, Mayor Oh said, “We are already applying the insights gained from my trip to Hamburg in March last year to one or two policies, such as the design of the 2nd Sejong Cultural Center and the preparation of river buses.” He expressed his gratitude and said that he would actively support any policies that the delegation was interested in, including autonomous buses.

“As it is becoming increasingly important to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into cities to overcome the climate crisis and provide convenience to citizens, I hope to share in-depth discussions and experiences with Hamburg at next month's Seoul Smart Life Week (SLW 2024), which will discuss the future of smart cities and the direction of technology for people,” said Oh.

Seoul will host the first Smart Life Week (SLW 2024) from October 10 to October 12, an ICT (information and communication technology) expo with 137 companies showcasing more than 200 innovative solutions under the theme of “People-centered technology, connecting people to a better life.